


Hydrangea Petals

by modelmagic



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Gen, Trans Perry the Platypus, established relationship canderemy but no ship tag bc this isnt a romance fic, not MML compliant, post-last day of summer, trans Candace Flynn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25976113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/modelmagic/pseuds/modelmagic
Summary: Step One: Take Perry to the vet. Step Two: Don't get gender dysphoria. Failed Step Two.
Comments: 24
Kudos: 105





	Hydrangea Petals

**Author's Note:**

> tw for gender/body dysphoria, misgendering, general transphobia  
> this is a pretty lighthearted fic (maybe hurt/comfort?), but those themes are present all throughout so tread carefully
> 
> now onto some fic notes: fic takes place around a week or two after school started. this isn't mml compliant and in this timeline, doofenshmirtz stayed as a teacher. he still does some non-evil inators/projects but owca sends perry over to check on him and of course a ray always lands in the flynn-fletcher's backyard

Texting away on her phone, Candace reached for the front door. “Bye, mom. I’m going to Jeremy’s house.”

“Oh, Candace honey, could you take Perry with you?” Her mother’s mention of the family meatbrick managed to unglue Candace’s eyes from her phone _so_ drastically, they might as well popped out of her head. “He’s due for a checkup and the new veterinary clinic is a few blocks before the Johnson’s house.”

“Why can’t Phineas and Ferb do it?” She whined.

“They’re busy practicing their cheer routine in the backyard.”

“Wait, tryouts started already?” Candace brought a finger to her chin, brows furrowed in deep thought. A split second idea of joining them crossed her mind, but snapped out of it and she just as quickly got back on topic. “Why can’t dad do it?”

“Who do you think is helping the boys with their routine?”

“Oh right. Make sure that dad doesn’t pull anything this time. And uh.” The teen winced as she turned her head to ask the final question in her squeakiest, most non-threatening voice. “Why can’t... _you... do it?_ ” 

Linda frowned, meanwhile her eldest forced her sweetest smile. “ _Candace_ ,” she said, sternly.

“But _mooom_ ,” the teen dragged the word out in her usual tone, “it’s _Sunday!_ As in, the last day of the weekend! As in, last moment of freedom before-“

“Oh look, he’s all ready to go.” As soon as their platypus aimlessly walked close enough to her, Linda picked him up and placed him in Candace’s reluctant hands. She found her daughter’s prominent frowning towards their sweet, harmless pet to be quite amusing. “And please remember that this is a new vet he’s going to, so don’t groan if they ask a bunch of simple questions, okay?”

Walking out the door, Candace threw her head back with a loud groan.

“Like that.” Linda added. “Don’t do that at the vet, Candace.”

* * *

Candace must’ve counted the amount of chairs, equipment, and floor tiles in this room upwards of fifteen times. Sometimes it almost hurt when her phone was in her pocket but she couldn’t use it. Scratch that, she _could_ , she just shouldn’t. It was an unspoken rule, or whatever.

Tempted, but she was strong. Social media updates? No sir, she had a busy schedule. All the buzzing from texts? Let them wait, she was paying attention to the vet 100%. Okay, not 100%, but at least 90%. 70%. 50%? That sounded reasonable. See? She was so mature that she wasn’t even _thinking_ about her phone anymore, or about any new Paisley Sideburn Brothers singles dropping, or about any bold opinions that Stacy posted about.

Going back to the percentages, she wondered how much battery her phone had right now... Probably 100%! Because she was strong-willed and hadn’t used it at all! Because she was paying attention to whatever it is was going on with Perry, yeah!

In fact, she was _so_ strong-willed that she could check her phone right now just to look at the battery and nothing else. She could, but she wasn’t going to... But she could! And she _should_ , right? It wouldn’t hurt to take a quick little-

“Everything seems to be in shape, Miss Flynn.” After clicking away on her computer, the vet switched over to her clipboard, writing at the very bottom of the very last page, which was the closest thing to paradise for Candace at the moment because _finally she was going to leave._

Sure, she still had to take Perry with her over to Jeremy’s house, but he never seemed to mind. In fact, his tendency to treat Perry like a baby was a preview of what’s to come in their future when they have their own kids— Xavier and Amanda. Of course.

The vet looked through the pages in her hand. “One last thing.” Candace snapped out of her thoughts. She had to pay attention to at least one thing during this visit, right? “I thought I was examining a male platypus?”

Candace blinked, a blank look on her face being quickly replaced by a deeply puzzled one. “...Yes? That’s him?”

The vet shook her head and pointed at Perry’s ankles. “These spurs don’t have any venom in them, which all male platypi have.”

“Oh... We just kinda assumed that only male platypuses- or platypi- whichever, had those and that female ones didn’t?”

“Every platypus has ankle spurs, male ones are venomous and female ones usually fall off after a while.” The vet brought a finger carefully around one of Perry’s spurs. “It’s a miracle that these haven’t fallen off yet, given her age.”

‘Her.’

Candace’s throat felt a little tight in addition to a burning sensation in her chest.

“Oh.” The teen said flatly, lowering her head. Her eyes darted up in concern. “Is that all?” She made an immediate mental note to practice the whole _‘don’t ask questions you don’t wanna know the answer to’_ thing.

The vet turned Perry over to lay down paws up, and began to gesture towards the lower half of his body. “Here you can see that she doesn’t-“

“ _OKAY, THAT’S IT!_ ” Candace put a stop to it in record time by jumping from her seat and grabbing the platypus from the table while exclaiming an _“I’ve seen more than enough!”_

She stopped, her shoes squeaking on the floor.

A few seconds and a flushed face later, she added a small “I-I mean thank you for... that.”

* * *

Candace’s legs were on auto-pilot as she walked down the sidewalk with her pet in her arms. Her brain was anywhere else but here.

_‘...Doesn’t have venom, like all male platypi do.’_

_‘...Gonna fall off eventually.’_

_‘She doesn’t have a...’_

Feeling a bit lightheaded, Candace sat on the nearest empty bench before it got any worse, placing Perry right by her side, her fingers absentmindedly running through teal fur.

Memories of old visits to the doctor began to cross her mind; her nervousness when she first corrected them on her name and pronouns and why this was the case, the fact that she still needed to do that several times afterwards, the anxiety over how new doctors would treat her and occasionally her worst fears coming true, _the physical exams._ She blinked away any humidity forming in her eyes, but it didn’t stop her from feeling like she was about to vomit.

All she could do right this second was inhale sharply followed by a gradual exhale a few moments later, like how her friends and family remind her to do when everything was too much. Closing her eyes, she took a few moments to herself.

She’s a girl. She’s a girl. She’s a girl.

She’s Candace Flynn, and she’s always been a girl.

...

Okay.

Looking down at her right hand, she immediately stopped any movement and simply placed her hand on top of her pet’s back.

Perry.

He... She? _They?_ Oh, she— as in Candace, didn’t know anymore.

She needed to tell her family. That was all. That was her only task.

Simple.

It wasn’t a big deal, right? They always took Perry to the vet, so there was hope that they already knew about this. (They probably knew even more about this than she did. After all, she _did_ stop the vet before she told her more about... _that_...) Plus, Phineas and Ferb were basically platypus experts, especially compared to her. So, she was overthinking this for nothing and needed to chill out.

...But they _couldn’t_ be platypus experts because why would they be calling Perry ‘boy’ this entire time?! They didn’t know! She just needed to tell them the new information. She guessed that the old veterinarian simply wasn’t all that good, probably didn’t look around Perry as closely, and that’s why something like this was revealed after years of adopting him- Her- Them- _Ugh!_ She— again, as in Candace— had been calling Perry ‘he’ for this long, she wasn’t going to change that now.

...

Okay, that sounded messed up, let her rephrase. She _could_ adapt to a pronoun change. She _has_ adapted to pronoun changes before and she was gonna do it again. It was all up to Perry to... To...

_Wait a minute..._

_UGH!_ Perry’s just a pet! An animal! Who doesn’t even know anything about gender! Who couldn’t even _understand_ what they were saying! It didn’t even matter! Perry’s just...

“...Perry?” Without putting much thought into it, she held him up to better examine his face. She was usually the last person to be able to notice if something was off about him, but it was worth a shot.

At first glance, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, if anything it was possible to pass it off as him getting sleepy. Upon closer inspection, he looked the slightest bit ill, but not anything like his usual appearance when he had gotten sick in the past. The hair at the top of his head and his eyelids both drooped, his limbs wobbled like he was out of energy. He was perfectly fine a minute ago, he literally just got a checkup. His face, though... Almost like he was sad? How was that possible? Maybe he was hungry or needed-

_Were his eyes getting watery?!_

Candace blinked tightly while vigorously shaking her head and sure enough, he now looked the same as ever.

He coughed after an attempt at his usual chatter, so... dehydrated. Yeah, he was probably dehydrated, and Candace could use something to cool down, too. The sun was getting to her head.

Sharp inhale... Gradual exhale.

Sharp inhale... Gradual exhale.

Holding Perry comfortably in her arms to avoid any further discomfort, Candace was back on her feet. She knew that a glass of water wasn’t really going to sort anything out for her, what she really needed was to talk to Jeremy.

Jeremy couldn’t know how much this gender issue was taking a toll on her because it was a new kind of ridiculous, even for her, so she needed to bring up the topic naturally, casually, and most importantly, _subtly._

She could do that.

* * *

“...So, Jeremy, random question; just totally out of the blue, just spitballin’ here, like _oop_ there it is in my head! Haha! Anywayyy, have you everrr, oh I don’t know, _found out that your pet might’ve been female this entire time?_ ” Sipping a cold drink of water from a straw, Candace stared at him attentively.

“Oh, totally. We used to have a goldfish; Suzy and I thought the fish was a ‘she’, mom usually went with ‘he’, and dad was pretty inconsistent about it.” Jeremy drank from his cold glass of lemonade and placed it on the coffee table, using a coaster, obviously. He really was the ideal man. “And when I was little, I used to call my aunt’s parakeet ‘boy’ all the time, so you can imagine how I felt when there were some eggs in the cage next time I went to her house.”

Egg-laying... mammal.

_Semi-aquatic_ , egg-laying mammal.

Also placing her drink on a coaster, Candace glanced over at Perry, who was comfortably resting on an olive green throw pillow on the floor as he lapped up water from a dog bowl. He likely had no idea of how much stress he was causing her. A master of psychological manipulation.

...Could she... ask Phineas and Ferb to invent something that could help her?

“Help you with what?” Jeremy calmly asked.

Her head snapped up. “What?”

“You just said that you needed your brothers’ help with something.”

“I... _was talking?!_ ” After Jeremy’s nod, she cringed and hoped that her face beginning to heat up wasn’t noticeable. Think of something, quick. “Help... me with my homework! You know how weird Mr. Doofenshmirtz’ instructions are! Like, I don’t speak German! Haha. Haaa...”

Smooth. She bit her tongue. Internal monologue NOW.

Could she ask Phineas and Ferb to invent... What? Something like... like... some thingamabob that fixes problems, _that’s it!_ No need to be more specific about it, for both hers and Perry’s sake. Plus, she wasn’t exactly an inventor here, so they could improve on and make her vague idea a reality. She could just step into the _whatever_ machine and problem solved! No opening a can of twenty questions. Is that even a figure of speech? Can of worms consisting of twenty questions, perhaps?

“Candace.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Mm?”

“I asked if something’s on your mind, and I’m gonna guess it has something to do with the visit to the vet.”

With a defeated sigh, Candace slouched into the couch with her intertwined fingers placed on top of her stomach, her lips quivering.

“Hey,” Jeremy placed his hand on top of one of hers. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t wanna-”

“ _But I do!_ ” Exasperated, Candace threw an arm in the air. “I don’t know how to say it or where to even start, or- or anything!”

“You could try by telling me about what happened today and work your way towards why it bugs you?”

That made sense, so she exhaled deeply. “Okay so, I took Perry to the vet, right? A new one, so I had to fill a bunch of papers up— that’s-“ she held her arms up defensively, “-that’s _not_ why I’m upset. Everything was fine, I guess. I wasn’t really paying attention, and at the end she pointed out that Perry...”

She cringed looking back at the aforementioned monotreme and cupped her hands while whispering to her boyfriend: “Isn’t... male...?” Sitting upright, the words made her sick to her stomach.

“...And you’re...” When Jeremy spoke, his voice was at its gentlest. “...Confused about having to change? Or is there another reason? Do Phineas and Ferb know?”

Phineas and Ferb.

She had honestly forgotten about that part of the dilemma for a moment. “I don’t know. Maybe they do, but just keep calling him, y’know, _‘him’_. I mean, they _did_ believe that Perry laid an egg once, and I believed it too... The mom suit was a mistake.” She shook the thought away from her mind, especially before Jeremy could intervene. “ _Anyway,_ what if they don’t know? That stresses me out!”

“You wanna talk about why it stresses you out?”

Candace became conscious of her breathing. “It’s... another reason. It’s so stupid, but-“

“Nothing you say is stupid, Candace.”

“It’s a reach but... what if Perry... likes being a guy?” Candace shut her eyes tightly, refusing to open them. “Not caring what his body says?”

“...Well-“

“I know!” Her bloodshot eyes opened up as she sat upright. “I. Know. _Mindless animal_ , hello. I just- It- It felt wrong and weird and _bad_. I swear, I saw him get upset after it! You should’ve seen his face! But he was okay a sec later, so maybe I was seeing things and uh, projected onto him.”

Her throat felt much tighter than it was earlier in the day, when the initial damage of the vet’s words occurred, but she powered through it. “It made me think of, like, when I go to the doctor, and I get so nervous going there for a whole bunch of reasons. Like, sometimes the old, _wrong info_ shows up. It says- It doesn’t say that I’m a girl, Jeremy!” It was all coming back like a sledgehammer to the brain. “A-And I’m like, what if Perry’s like this?! What if I tell my family and it was wrong to do that because now he’s being misgendered?! _Why am I like this for thinking that?!_ ”

Her voice becoming shrill, Candace held her face in her hands as Jeremy pulled her into a hug, her sobs became louder, devolving into incomprehensible babbles about herself a freak, all the while he rubbed her back with loving reassurances that that’s absolutely not the case, and to let it all out.

This was a mess. No, _she_ was a mess.

If only she could stop overthinking for two seconds. She wouldn’t even be in this problem if only she’d shrugged it off, but _nooo_ , she just had to make this about her own insecurities as always.

A visit to the vet triggered her own insecurities. How pathetic.

“Candace, it’s okay if you think that about Perry.”

“N-No, it’s not.” Her voice was husky, and she wanted to scream, but that would make it worse.

“Yes, it is.”

The redhead returned Jeremy’s hug, getting fresh tears on his flawless shirt. “It is?” She sniffled, her breathing still shaky.

“Well, yeah.” His hands caressed her back. “Of course, it is. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“It’s just so...” The two broke from their embrace, remaining with an arm around each other’s backs. Her breathing had evened out a little. “I’ve never heard of anyone worry if their pet is trans like them.”

“I mean, I’m not sure about that specifically...” Bringing his free arm forward, Jeremy dried his girlfriend’s last tears with a thumb. “You can’t help but connect the dots between what happened today and what you’ve experienced before, and I’m sorry it made you relive those memories. Now, I don’t know how Perry feels since I don’t speak platypus, but-“ Candace let out an airy giggle, making Jeremy grin. “I can tell that he appreciates how much you care about him.”

With a knowing smile, he pointed to Candace’s side, where Perry had apparently waddled his way up the couch and sat right next to Candace. Her _‘aww!_ ’ was enough permission for him step forward and snuggle her, rubbing his head against her in a cat-like manner. Holding Perry on her lap while Jeremy played with little teal paws, the two teens giggled as the platypus churred.

Moments later, Jeremy let go of the paws and smiled lovingly at his girlfriend. “And you know what I _do_ know for sure?”

“What?”

“That you’re...“ He tucked a strand of Candace’s hair behind her ear. “...The most beautiful girl that I have ever seen.”

“Aw!” There were stars shining in Candace’s eyes as she blushed a light pink. “Jeremy!”

“It’s true!”

With Perry inconspicuously escaping from his owner’s lap, the two teens found themselves in a tighter hug; a shorter one which ended in Jeremy receiving a well-deserved kiss on the cheek.

As always, Candace considered herself very lucky to have him.

Making sure that the redhead had significantly, if not fully, calmed down, Jeremy broke their short-lived yet comfortable silence. “Anything else you wanna talk about?”

“Hm.” She pursed her lips. “I still don’t know what to do, Jeremy. I don’t... I really don’t wanna tell them, but I feel like I _have_ to someday or else it’s gonna kill me keeping it in... o-or that they’ll find out for themselves someday! Is that worse?! I kinda feel like that’s worse!”

“Do whatever makes you most comfortable. Everything else in the checkup was fine, right?”

“Uh, yeah pretty much. The vet told me that someday his, um, ankle thingies are gonna fall off and that’s gonna give it away for sure, other than poking around and looking at his...” she grimaced and made loose hand gestures, “ _y’know._ ”

“Maybe try telling them the truth in a way that doesn’t change anything.”

“I’m listening.”

“I, uh,” he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “This isn’t my best work but... Maybe tell them that he’s a... special platypus? I mean, he already _is_ special, just more than we originally thought...?”

She blinked.

He blinked.

A pause.

Then he smiled nervously.

“Okay, first of all...” Candace started. “You’re _so cute, Jeremy, oh my gosh_. Second of all, you’re onto something.” Placing her first on her chin, the gears turned in her head, albeit slowly. Her brain was ready to call it quits for the day.

“I am?” A slight blush on his face. “I thought it was kinda lame.”

“No, no. It’s a start and needs some fine tuning.” A million scenarios popping up in her minds eye resulted in a slight headache. _Ow._ She brought a hand to her forehead with a groan. “Can we text about this later or something? I think I need a break.”

“Of course.” He pointed at their lukewarm drinks. “You want more water? Or do you wanna go home or-?”

“No, I’ll stay here. Some water would be nice.” Jeremy quickly headed into the kitchen and just as rapidly came back with an ice cold drink. After thanking him, taking small sips helped Candace cool down as much as she could at the moment. She moved the straw to push the ice cubes around. “I do _not_ feel like going into busting mode over whatever Phineas and Ferb are doing right now.” For what was possibly the third time that day, Candace slouched back onto the couch, after placing her cup down on a coaster, of course.

“They’re still building even when school started?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Weekends, man.”

“Ah, gotcha.” He grabbed a hold of the TV remote. “So, you wanna watch one of Suzy’s Ducky Momo movies?”

“I love you. I-I mean-!” At this point, her face was as red as her shirt. “I do! I mean, I _do_ love you! But what I meant to say was that I do wanna watch one! You know me so well...”

“Love you, too.” Reaching under the couch, Jeremy pulled out a handful of DVDs. “I dunno much about-“

He was interrupted by a sharp gasp and Candace grabbed one of the DVDs out of his hand. “You have _Ducky Momo’s Adventures in Oz?!_ They only made fifty copies before it got _banned!_ ” Her legs began to bounce in excitement.

Although he smiled at her current upbeat mood, Jeremy tilted his head at her comment. “Why would... they ban Ducky Momo?”

“Oh, Ducky Momo has a _looong_ history with that. I could give you a whole academic presentation on it.” She hugged the DVD to her chest. “After we watch it!”

“I’d love to hear it.” Jeremy said, in complete sincerity as he walked over to place the disc in the DVD player. Before sitting back down, he closed the curtains and brought a few blankets for the best dark-and-cozy movie-watching experience.

Ducky Momo’s Adventures in Oz didn’t end with Candace’s monologue regarding censorships within the franchise. Instead, it was followed by another Ducky Momo movie because _‘now you can understand all the references in Ducky Momo’s Return: Mo’ Momo, Jeremy!’_

At some point during the movie, the two found themselves snuggled on one side of the couch and Candace fluttered her eyes to stay awake. The best part of the movie was only half an hour away and yet, she found herself drifting off. It was a good thing that she’d seen this one countless times because after such an emotionally exhausting day, being in a dark room with the AC on while cuddling in a warm blanket with her boyfriend, you couldn’t blame her for being one step away from falling asleep.

However, one thing was missing.

“Hey.” Candace spoke while yawning. “Where’s Perry?” He wasn’t on the couch, or on his floor pillow, or anywhere else it seemed. Then again, it was dark and she was in a sleepy daze.

“Maybe he went to sleep in our dog bed?” Jeremy suggested with a shrug. “How about you take a nap, too, sleepyhead?”

Nestled right beside him and finally shutting her heavy eyelids, he didn’t need to ask her twice.

* * *

Facing a beautiful orange sunset and rubbing whatever was left of the sleep from her eyes, Candace walked back up the sidewalk from earlier in the day.

She subsequently stopped halfway into the next step, a dawning realization making her eyes open up so widely it hurt.

Oh no.

“Oh, shoot!” Candace slapped her forehead (and accidentally too hard, at that). “ _Shoot!_ ”

_How_ could she have forgotten Perry?! After all that he put her through?! He wasn’t in the living room the last time that Candace checked, but that was over an hour ago. If she was lucky, he was still in the Johnson’s house... but _oh_ , the thought of turning back because she _left her platypus behind like forgetting her phone was-_

Wait, she _did_ have her phone with her, right? She pat her pockets... Yep. Good to go.

Anyway, she’d already sobbed in front of Jeremy over one of her biggest insecurities, so stopping by again right after saying goodbye would only be the second most embarrassing event of the day. 

She turned around...

-and screamed.

...The fuzzy little rectangle himself seemed to have been already following her. Quietly, like a ninja, or a stalker, or Ferb. “...Oh, there you are, Perry.” She placed both hands on her hips. “...Were you in the front yard this whole time? Doggy door, huh?” He responded with his usual noise. “Yep, I knew it. Walk with me.”

With the gentle breeze of the incoming nighttime, the two continued their way back home with Candace informing him about all the Momo-ness that he missed out on.

“...Originally, Ducky Momo was going to be revealed to be the wizard all along, but it would’ve lead to a lot of plotholes, especially since the twist that they went with was that the wizard was his dad the whole time, so they cut it all out. There’s still leftovers of that concept in his outfit from-“

Then, about some loosely related Momo-ness.

“...Really, the narrator went on this whole spiel on a podcast about sneaking in a curse word during a scene in Ducky Momo Goes to Hollywood, but then when parents found out about it, he insisted that it wasn’t the case and that it was just the noise that the pizza dough made when it hit the wall in that scene where Ducky Momo worked at the pizzeria. _Anyway,_ they recast him-”

And just any Momo-ness in general.

“...And then I saw the cuuutest Ducky Momo-patterned dress online and guess what? They sell it for dogs, too! I’m sure it fits you, so we can match! You and me! Oh sorry, I’m sure that they sell it as pants too, if that’s more your style. We’ll only wear it at home though, don’t worry.”

Perry wasn’t too keen on the franchise at first (Candace could see it in his eyes), but it seemed to really grow on him the more that she talked about it (again, it was in the eyes).

Finally reaching their destination, the teen reunited the boys with their beloved platypus, who showered him in hugs and comments about missing him _so much_ , even though he was usually gone for a longer amount of time every day. Putting on a smile, she informed her family about the checkup and told them that everything was fine, which was technically right, yet simultaneously far from the truth.

Letting Phineas take over the conversation at the dinner table about dad’s ‘epic moves’ and how even Ferb _‘Absolute Madman’_ Fletcher couldn’t compete with them, Candace nodded along as she quietly ate her meal. Eyeing Perry walk across the room every so often, she wondered what he was up to. She internally groaned at herself for thinking he was brainless while _also_ thinking he was capable of scheming. Then again, she did spend the entire day believing that he was experiencing dysphoria as well.

Phineas went on to mention something about their new-and-improved pom poms— whatever that meant— inexplicably turning into hydrangeas thanks to a green ray in the sky, so they decided to plant them, which Linda easily accepted as a lovely new addition to the backyard. _‘Just in time for fall’_ , apparently.

* * *

Candace’s favorite cloud-patterned, purple pajamas; sleeveless for when it got too hot, and long pants for when it got too cold, but the fabric was still light enough for when it was still too hot, did that make sense? Plus, Jeremy thought she looked cute in this color, like he did with any color that she wore.

A light brush through her hair, Candace sat in front of her vanity, reminiscing about how long it took for her to grow her orange locks out, and how much love and care she put into it every day. She’d come a long way, huh?

“I got a refill of your estrogen pills, dear.” Linda walked in the room, placing the aforementioned object on her daughter’s table.

“Sweet! Thanks, mom.”

“Oh, no problem.” Linda placed a proud hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Thank _you_ for taking Perry to the vet today. That wasn't too hard, was it?”

Candace tensed up and hoped that her mom didn’t feel it. “Uhh yep! I-I mean, ‘yep’ that it _wasn’t_ hard, not ‘yep’ as in that it _was_ hard. I mean, what could _POSSIBLY_ be so hard about that?! Nothing! Nothing’s not too hard! Oh, that’s a double negative! What I meant to say was-!” She hyperventilated for a moment, abruptly stopping. “...Perry’s fine!” Her exaggerated smile shined the brightest through all the nervousness.

“Well, that’s not suspicious at all.” Linda turned around and walked. “Goodnight, Candace.”

“Night!” After the door shut, Candace held the pills in her hand. She usually took those in the morning, but right now she lightly moved her hand around just to hear the pills tapping against the container. She liked the sound and rhythmically continued to do so as she aimlessly paced around her room.

Regarding her conundrum of the day, she decided to sleep on it for the night. Way too tired to text Jeremy about it at the moment, another venting session with him could be in store soon since they made such good progress today. Plus, they already hang out all the time.

Speaking of which, she could also go to Stacy for a new perspective on the matter, but how could she help with Perry-related issues? Stacy basically didn’t know anything about him, he was usually gone by the time she got to their house, and it’s not like she was a platypus whisperer who could flat out ask him and get an answer. Pfft, if only. _‘Hey, the vet said that my platypus is a different sex than we thought, could you ask him to clear up his gender?’_ Candace figured that Jeremy could give advice, meanwhile Stacy could help clear her mind. That seemed like a solid enough plan.

And who knows, Danville was prone to convoluted coincidences, so there was a slight chance that her brothers would coincidentally build an invention over the weekend that solved this issue for her, like a new animal-communication device. One that helped Perry answer questions by... writing? Teaching him how to type? Interpreting his tail-tapping? Trying to have him speak didn’t work last summer and she couldn’t help but feel that... She briefly thought _‘a mind-reading device wouldn’t work on him at all’_ because y’know, mindless animal. But... _ugh!_ If this was some long con to get her to bond, and more specifically _connect_ , with Perry, then it tragically worked.

If Phineas and Ferb were to actually, somehow, miraculously build the contraption that she had in mind, she could only beg and hope, but mostly beg, that it worked according to plan. And if they couldn’t read _her_ mind to build something that could read _Perry’s_ mind, she could begin by nudging them in that direction by coming up with some fake story, like her classes bringing up communicating with animals.

...Perry was just a animal, yet right now she was obsessed with finding a way to have him communicate, specifically to talk about his gender. Candace figured that she’d done enough pacing around her room and that it was time to go to sleep.

What was Jeremy’s idea, again? Telling them that Perry was a really special platypus? Yeah, that... That was simpler.

“Candace?”

She screeched too loudly for this time of night, or any other time for that matter. “Phineas?!” She took note of who else was suddenly in her room. “Ferb and Perry?! What are you guys doing here?”

“Sorry, Candace! We wanted to give you a gift, but didn’t wanna interrupt your rambling.” Phineas explained.

Oh.

...

“ _WHAT?!_ I...” She grabbed her own face. “I said that out loud?! _Again?!_ And you guys heard it?!” Her voice lowered, as did her head with a now pink-tinted face. Wayyy too much blushing today, honestly. “...How much of it did you hear?”

“Enough, I’d say.” Ferb replied and Phineas nodded.

“Sooo...” Candace placed her pills down and walked over to them. “What do you think?” She squeaked out, immediately hiding her face in her hands, not being able to face her siblings and especially not Perry, who was currently carried by Ferb like a baby.

“Hm.” Phineas brought a finger to where his chin should be. “We didn’t factor in any speaking deficiency that Perry might’ve had with the first animal translator, so other-“

“Not about the machine!” Candace interrupted him. “About... what happened at the vet. Did you hear that part?”

“...I would say ‘no’ to mess with you,” Ferb started. “But you’re quite clearly distraught, so I won’t.”

After a few seconds pass, Candace peeked through her fingers. “...So that was a yes?”

“Yes, yes it was.” Phineas clarified.

She groaned as she slouched and let her arms sag. “Will ya just tell me what you think?!” She held her forehead, throwing her head back. “It’s late and it’s killing me, and now you know so... On with it!”

The brothers gave each other a look, then they looked at their pet in unison. Phineas smiled. “We already knew, Candace. Don’t worry about it.”

Her brain short-circuited, making an eye twitch.

Th.

THEY ALREADY KNEW?! They already knew! They already knew? They aaalready knew! They, Phineas and Ferb, already knew! Of course they already knew because they’re Phineas and Ferb! And because they’re Phineas and Ferb, _they already knew!_

They.

Already.

Knew.

_“You...”_ To avoid yelling, Candace opted to speak as quietly as possible as she grit her teeth, her finger shaking as she pointed between the two boys. _“...Already... knew...?”_

“Yeah! Don’t you remember when we thought he laid an egg?”

Her eyes widened as her pupils dilated. “But- but- but—! _Why_ did we think he was male this entire time?! I mean, he _is._ ” She corrected herself. “But, like, is he- _Oh,_ you get my problem!”

“The animal shelter said he was male. Soon enough, we learned more about platypi and discovered that even though his body says otherwise, we figured we’d just let it be. Almost like he was destined to be a boy. ” Phineas shrugged. He gave Perry scratches on his belly, making the platypus happily kick his legs. “I think he likes it.”

Alright.

That last sentence was all the clarification that Candace needed to relax significantly. According to the _platypus experts_ here, Perry was basically trans, just like her. And she couldn’t help but smile to herself a little.

Again, ridiculous but _oh,_ what a feeling. What bliss. Everything was out in the open and she didn’t need to stress anymore.

Ferb blinked, and Phineas agreed with what he meant by that. “Couldn’t’ve said it better myself, Ferb! Jeremy was right, Perry _is_ a special platypus!” The fact that they so earnestly agreed with that callback warmed Candace’s heart, simultaneously making her want to hide under the bed and scream from embarrassment due to remembering that she was _thinking out loud without even realizing it, **again**. _“Oh my gosh, we almost forgot your gift, Candace!”

“Huh?”

Ferb poked Perry’s bill, making him drop whatever he was holding in his teeth onto the palm of his owner’s hand. Candace gagged as Ferb wiped the drool off of the items. That was what they were giving her? Gross! He then proceeded to hold them in front of her.

Three small hydrangeas. In light blue, pink, and white.

“Thanks, uh.” Holding them, she blinked. Those colors... Were they the only ones that they had? Were they intentional? “What... for?”

“We found Perry yanking some of ‘em out. He really likes them. Then he said _‘krkrkr’_ ,” momentarily wall-eyed, Phineas attempted to replicate _the_ noise, “and we took that as _‘gosh, these would make such a nice gift for Candace for taking care of me!’_ ” He paused. “Which is kind of a stretch now that I think about it, but I think we’re pretty close.”

Ferb cradled a yawning Perry in his arms. “I thought it meant that he hated them and was going to rip them out himself, one by one, but I digress.”

“And you definitely deserve them after today.” Phineas’ expression and tone of voice was remorseful. “We’re sorry for what happened, we’ll take him to his next checkups to avoid a repeat.”

“It’s fine. You two were busy,” she said with a sigh. “I just wish I would’ve known, and _I’m_ sorry for lying and saying that nothing was wrong with him. Really, nothing was wrong with _him_ , it was more like something was wrong with _me_ , but you get the idea.”

“Water under the bridge! Look on the bright side, at least you got this off of your chest, _and_ you bonded with Perry!” Phineas gestured at the monotreme, who strangely still seemed to be awake, if a bit drowsy.

“Yeah... Guess I did, huh?” Looking at their pet, Candace felt an overwhelming need to show affection. “...May I...?” She held her arms out towards Ferb, who quickly realized what she wanted and passed the now-wide awake mammal onto her arms, carefully so that nothing happened to the small flowers in her hand.

She held him over her shoulder for a hug.

For a moment, she didn’t care about he already needed to bathe, or how fur was getting all over her perfectly neat pajamas, or how dirty his paws must be, or the fact that he eats worms, or about his potential drooling.

It was just the hug that she needed, and deep down she felt that he needed it as well.

Touched, Ferb held both of his hands together, and brought them up to his chest. Phineas cooed before speaking up. “You want him stay here for the night? He’s a big fan your room’s aesthetic!”

“Can’t believe I’m saying this but,” moving Perry down to hold him in both of her arms, Candace raised her eyebrows, “yes, yes I do. Just this once.”

“Great!” Phineas and Ferb hugged their sister while petting their platypus, basically getting into a group hug. “Night, Candace! And a goodnight to you, too, Perry!” Phineas gave Perry one last scratch before beginning to walk out the door. Ferb, meanwhile, placed a little kiss atop Perry’s head and followed his brother, carefully shutting the door behind him.

Candace observed the hydrangeas that she held, her thumb lightly fiddling with the petals as all new thoughts filled her mind, just like the tears that filled her eyes. Gosh, she was such a sap today. Before they could leak out, she dried them away with the back of her hand, her lips curling into a smile. “Thanks, Perry.”

With the flowers in one arm and Perry in the other, she placed the plants on her vanity and her pet on the bed right next to her favorite spot. (Which was a high honor, seeing as she had to place her beloved Ducky Momo Googolplex Mall-exclusive plush elsewhere on the bed tonight. She planned to apologize to him first thing in the morning.) Laying on her mattress, she covered herself with a blanket as Perry waddled in circles before settling into a sleeping position as well.

She poked his bill and lightheartedly chided: “Don’t get used to this, ya hear me, Waffle-tail? Your fur smells and is a pain to clean off of the covers.” She fluffed her pillow before laying back down. “And don’t drool on Ducky Momo, got it?” His chatter for a reply made her drop her faux scolding frown and replaced it with closed eye grin.

Keeping her eyes closed and sinking more into the pillow, Candace murmured although she guessed that Perry was already fast asleep. “I don’t think you even know how tired you made me today, man.” She yawned. “At least that’s over with, huh? ...And remind me to buy those... matching Ducky Momo outfits... tomorrow...”

There was only blissful snoring to be heard, this long day finally coming to a close.

**Author's Note:**

> forgive any errors regarding going to the vet or platypus facts. anyway this fic kept branching off into a bunch of different directions that i didnt initially plan, but this is close to the best version of itself that it could be. candace and perry both being trans is very dear to me, thanks for reading!


End file.
